An awful lot of musicians and bands have passed through John Keane's Athens recording studio, where his capable hands and musical ear have engineered, mixed and produced music for nearly three decades. Widespread Panic, R.E.M., Vic Chesnutt, Drivin' 'N' Cryin', Randall Bramblett, Jack Logan, John Berry -- the list goes on, and these are just a few of the ''locals.''

The studio's cozy, wooden walls are enveloped in an invitingly sweet old house in the historic Cobbham neighborhood. Keane, an Athens native, moved there in 1981 and started mixing and recording as a fairly serious hobby by 1983, he says. That was after a few semesters at Southern Polytechnic State University, where he studied mechanical engineering. After a while, ''I got bored and started playing in bands,'' he says.

As it turned out, it was the perfect mix -- Keane's musical interest combined with his technical understanding led him through the ins and outs of recording and production. ''Pretty much everything I know I taught myself,'' he says today, sitting before an enormous soundboard where knobs, buttons and tiny lights seem to number in the millions. ''I picked other peoples' brains and learned through trial and error.''

Keane's come so far in his ''trial and error'' learning method of recording that he recently wrote and published a book on the subject -- specifically a manual on Pro Tools, a system which has become ''the de facto standard in professional digital recording,'' Keane notes in the book's introduction. Titled ''A Musician's Guide to Pro Tools: A Step-by-Step Tutorial for 5.1 and Pro Tools Free,'' it's designed, he says, ''for someone who doesn't know anything about Pro Tools, or even much about computers.''

Keane acquired his first Pro Tools system in 1991, after years of adding to and updating his equipment by investing the money he earned as a producer. At the time, Pro Tools was pretty new. R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, in fact, describes his first encounter with it in the book's foreword: ''My first question was, 'Why would anyone want a television in the control room?' This prompted a 20-minute explanation from John on the technology and uses of Pro Tools. Of course it was all over my head ... I do remember, though that John used the phrase 'This is the wave of the future.'''

''Most any album you hear nowadays pretty much has something on it that's been done in Pro Tools,'' Keane says of the system's popularity.

But that doesn't mean it's a system anyone can sit down and use right away. The need for the manual is something Keane's become aware of during the last few years. For one, Pro Tools has become relatively affordable, and more and more musicians are purchasing it so they can record and mix their own work. But learning the software seemed to prove a daunting task to some of his friends who called him to ask for help.

''A lot of people buy (Pro Tools) and then end up getting bogged down in the software and overwhelmed by how much there is to learn,'' he says, adding it's something he often sees sold on Internet sites like eBay.

He adds that although Pro Tools provides a ''getting started'' manual and reference guide that should be used by anyone learning the system, ''There isn't really a manual for beginners. And to find out how to do one thing you have to go through something like a 700-page book -- it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.''

Instead, Keane's book clocks in at just 104 pages (not counting the index and handy cheat sheets), and is laid out for users to get through ''in a week or so,'' he says. Most important to him, he says, is that it's ''broken down into manageable chunks. I know my brain can only retain so much, so I wanted to make sure it's digestible.''

True to his do-it-yourself style, Keane did all the work on the book -- which is his first -- himself, from the writing and structure to the design, layout and even publishing through his newly founded Supercat Press. Since he started selling the book in May through his Web site, www.supercatpress.com, he's sold about 500 copies, he estimates, and has earned favorable reviews. He figures as more people learn about the book (or buy the system) he'll sell more. And thanks to self-publishing, he has control over the number of copies to print.

In the meantime, he's already working on a second part of the book, a more advanced manual that will take users further into the workings of the system. Both, he says, will need to be updated as the Pro Tools system is updated. But so far, Keane's willing to put the time in to keep the book accessible to the people who need it.

''... It's just a really great system, and so many things can be done with (Pro Tools) that are impossible to do with a tape machine,'' he notes of the four-track and eight-track systems of the not-so-distant past that were limited in their ability to correct flaws in recording. ''(With Pro Tools) you can grab any piece of sound and put it anywhere you want, and that alone is worth the price of admission. But what the book is designed to do is just help get the program up and running to where you can sit down and have some fun with it.''

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Copies of the book are available in Athens at Chick Piano Co., Musician's Warehouse and the University of Georgia bookstore or online atwww.supercatpress.com.